I was applying for a Training Copywriter position as part of DISH's In-House Services department. About a week after submitting my application, I got a phone call from an HR manager, who asked me some basic questions about my past work, my applicable skills, etc. At the end of the interview, she asked me to complete some online questionnaires that tested some basic aptitudes. When I had finished those, she asked me to submit a technical writing sample and a creative writing sample, which I did.
A week later, I got an e-mail with information for another phone interview, which would take place in two days. It was the first I had heard from DISH since I sent my writing sample--I didn't get any acknowledgment that I had sent them the samples they requested. I confirmed the phone interview, and two days later spoke with my prospective manager for about 30 minutes. He was a little more in-depth in his questions, and was able to answer some of my questions about the position that the HR manager had not known. This interview went well, and he asked me what day I would be available to come to the office for a series of in-person interviews. The next day I received a schedule showing that I would need to be at DISH's offices from 9-12.
I went to the office, and had three in-person interviews: one with the Manager of Training and Development, one with the manager who gave the second phone interview and two of his employees (my prospective co-workers), and one with a Vice President in the In-House Services department. After those three interviews, I was sent back to the front desk, where they put me in a room and had me take aptitude tests for another hour and a half.
Up to this point, everyone had been very polite and courteous, and helpful in answering my questions, and had they contacted me with a firm "no" I still would have considered it a positive experience. They told me they would contact me within a week with their final decision. A week passed, and I heard nothing. I waited a few more days, then sent a follow-up e-mail, including a few extra writing samples that I hoped would resolve some questions that had been brought up during the interview.
Finally, two weeks after they said they would have an answer for me, I received...an e-mailed form rejection, which looked identical to the type of rejection you get when your initial application doesn't have the required keywords in it. It wasn't even from the people I had been communicating with; some DISH robot just sent it out. I had easily spent 5 hours on phone interviews and taking assessment examinations, I had spent several days creating writing samples for them, and that was what I got. No phone call, not even a personal e-mail. It seemed awfully cold and impersonal after taking up so much of my time, and it's definitely made me think twice about applying to DISH the next time they have an opening I'm qualified for.